Posted on 12/08/2002 6:49:43 AM PST by ewing
Tim Russert just said on the panel discussion to Robert Novak, Bill Safire and David Broder that Jesse Jackson had given him a statement calling Lott a 'Confederate' for his remarks supporting Strom Thurmond and requesting his resignation from the Senate as Incoming Majority Leader.
No details were given about possible protests by Jacksons Rainbow coalition on the controversy
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.com ...
I also don't think Lott should be removed from the leadership for a silly comment at a birthday party. I think everyone has at one time or another said something silly that he regrets, and perhaps something silly at a birthday party. To remove Trent under these circumstances would fall into the PC of the hard left.
Trent is forced out over this, it would be like the 1830 Democrat birthday gathering for the late Thomas Jefferson. At that birthday party, the President Jackson (TN) challenged Vice President Calhoun (SC) over the status of the federal union. In time, Calhoun resigned the vice presidency and became a Jackson critic, but all within the Democrat party. So it would be hard to imagine that Thurmond's birthday party would be relegated to such importance as the first of the Jefferson-Jackson dinner.
Which U.S. Senator wasn't just a member of the KKK but was a "Kleagle" -- an official recruiter who signed up members for $10 a head?
Which U.S. Senator said he joined because it "offered excitement" and because the Klan was an "effective force" in "promoting traditional American values."
Which U.S. Senator wrote the following, three years after he claims to have ended his ties with the KKK: "The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia" and "in every state in the Union."
Which U.S. Senator also wrote that he would never fight "with a Negro by my side. Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds."
Which U.S. Senator later filibustered the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act -- supported by a majority of those "mean-spirited" Republicans -- for more than 14 hours.
Which U.S. Senator opposed the nominations of the Supreme Court's two black justices, liberal Thurgood Marshall and conservative Clarence Thomas.
Which U.S. Senator recently warned on national television: "There are white niggers. I've seen a lot of white niggers in my time. I'm going to use that word. We just need to work together to make our country a better country, and I'd just as soon quit talking about it so much."
I'll give you a hint. It wasn't Strom Thurmond.
http://www.c-span.org/politics/
The link to the Javascript is at about the center of the C-SPAN page. I'll transcribe the remarks by Lott, preceding his "all these problems" statement. There is no printed transcript on the Internet that I can find, at least not yet.
Feel free to click on the link above, download the 1-hour recording and follow along with me. If you're following along with me, fast-forward to exactly halfway through the recording. That is where Lott's speech starts.
Dole introduced Lott by mentioning that when Strom Thurmond was landing by glider in Normandy on June 6, 1944 Trent Lott was only three years old. http://www.c-span.org/politics/
Verbatim transcript of the beginning of Trent Lott's speech:
Well thank you, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you my good friend and my predecessor, my hero, Bob Dole, for that introduction, that very brief introduction I might add [Laughter] But for Senator Strom Thurmond's family and friends and admirers all, it's a great pleasure for me to be here with you today, and I know that you're enjoying every minute of this. And I knew that the previous remarks would be just as they were. I mean, after all, Bob Dole received the Republican nomination and dang near was elected President of the United States telling Strom Thurmond jokes. [Laughter] If he'd just gotten himself some new material there toward the end he would have done it. [Laughter] I want to say this about my state. When Strom Thurmond ran for President we voted for him. [Laughter] We're proud of it. [More laughter] And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either.
HE WAS JOKING, PEOPLE.
The quotation that has been bandied about as so-called "proof" of Lott's "racism" was clearly told for laughs. It was at the beginning of the speech, after Dole told a few Strom Thurmond jokes. Then Lott stood up and said that in 1996, Dole was nominated for President "and dang near was elected President of the United States telling Strom Thurmond jokes."
Then came the quotation that everyone is bleating about, and it got a few laughs, exactly as Lott had clearly intended. Then came more jokes, including one about how "the Capitol froze over" inserted in place of "hell freezes over," and a reference to Dole's Pepsi commercial with Britney Spears.
Oh Please. Lott's only crime is poor wording combined with the stupidity evident in the fact that he did not anticipate the Jesse Jacksons of the world doing exactly what they are doing right now.
For anybody who saw that speech on Thurmond in context, it is clearly evident that Lott's comment was in reference to the country being better off if government hadn't grown into the monster it is today. Lott commented to the effect that Thurmond had spent a lifetime fighting against government growth, a context that has been COMPLETELY IGNORED by persons raising a stink about his speech. There is nothing "vile and inexcusable" about praising Thurmond for a career long fight against big government, which is clearly what Lott was doing. He said nothing even remotely endorsing segregation and for Jackson to suggest so is dishonesty at its worst...especially since this is the exact same Jesse Jackson who has yet to notice Robert "KKK" Byrd on his own side of the aisle.
JJ's hysteria over Lott's remarks may fire up the Lazy-Slobs-Who-Want-Reparations crowd, but it will also create sympathy for Lott (and actually for anyone who isn't an opportunistic racist like JJ is).
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